# What factors  contributed to Britain building the world's strongest navy?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-factors-contributed-to-britain-building-the-worlds-strongest-navy/823637>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 28, 2018, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-factors-contributed-to-britain-building-the-worlds-strongest-navy/823637 "2018-10-28T16:12:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 5

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**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\
**Post date:** [November 16, 2018, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-factors-contributed-to-britain-building-the-worlds-strongest-navy/823637/81 "2018-11-16T20:20:06Z")

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> [@carnivorousplant](#):
>
> I thought it was, “The British occasionally kill an Admiral to encourage the others.”

That’s reasonably close. Here’s the original, and a translation:

> [@Voltaire](#):
>
> Mais dans ce pays-ci il est bon de tuer de temps en temps un Amiral, pour encourager les autres.
> 
> But in this country it is considered good to kill an Admiral now and then, to encourage the others.

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**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\
**Post date:** [November 17, 2018, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-factors-contributed-to-britain-building-the-worlds-strongest-navy/823637/82 "2018-11-17T15:09:45Z")

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Thanks, Xema.

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